1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a periscope, and more particularly to a periscope having IR (infrared) rays, a laser beam and visible light going through the same optical path, being split by a prism and then being received by separate receivers. The periscope reduces the parts to control the optical path of different elements to reduce the cost of the periscope.
2. Description of Related Art
Normally enclosed military vehicles, such as tanks and submarines, are equipped with a periscope to gather useful information without risking exposure to personnel inside the vehicle. The periscope includes a CCD camera, an IR sight and a laser range finder, all of which have independent elements with respect to each other, and each has its own optical path. Therefore, the periscope is very large and expensive. Furthermore, due to the line of sight of each of the aforementioned elements being different from each other, extra equipment is added to calculate and adjust the parallax error, which causes time delay. The delay might be crucial in modern warfare, and the overall weight of the vehicle will also cause the vehicle to move much more slowly.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved periscope to mitigate and obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the invention is to provide an improved periscope that integrates the different optical paths of the IR sight, the laser range finder and the CCD camera to reduce the overall elements used in the periscope and the cost for making the same.
Another objective of the invention is to use a parabolic reflection mirror and non-spherical mirror to shorten the optical path in the periscope, so that the entire size of the periscope is be reduced.
Still another objective of the invention is to use an IR imager, a CCD sight device and a laser reflection polarized beam splitter to regulate different light beams so they can share a common optical path and reduce the elements in the periscope.
A further objective of the invention is to allow the incidence surface mirror and the incidence window to rotate 360xc2x0 to easily provide a panoramic view regardless of platform yawing motion.
A still further objective of the invention is to drive the elevation axis of the incidence surface mirror by semiangle so as to have attitude stabilization in the elevation movement.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.